The One to Hold My Heart
by keslei
Summary: With a little help from Thea and Diggle, Oliver finally acts on his feelings and takes Felicity on a date.


**Author's Note: **Written for do-youunderstand, for the Arrow's Week Summer Exchange event on Tumblr. Prompt was "Oliver and Felicity trying to explore their relationship and Diggle, Roy, and Thea wanting to know what's going on."

This basically became an AU in which the end of season two never happened, Roy is part of Team Arrow but never got injected with the Mirakuru, and Thea is still running Verdant and isn't mad at Oliver.

Disclaimer: These characters are not my property.

* * *

It was just after eight p.m. on a Wednesday when Oliver Queen finally decided that he didn't want to ignore the depth of his feelings for Felicity Smoak for even one more minute. For months, he'd been telling himself that being with her would put her at risk, that she deserved someone better, someone who could give her a normal life, but tonight, none of that seemed to matter anymore.

The mission that night was supposed to have been a simple one - get Felicity into a mob boss's home while he was away on vacation, let her work her magic on his bank of servers, and get out before anyone ever knew they were there. It should have been nothing more than breaking and entering, but things went south quickly when the mob boss decided to come back from vacation a night early, and the number of henchmen patrolling the grounds suddenly quadrupled.

He'd gotten Felicity out of there as swiftly as possible, but they'd been spotted just as they were clearing the surrounding wall, and bullets had started flying. A quick roll over the top of the wall had put them safely out of reach, but not before he'd watched a bullet drive into the wall only inches from Felicity's ear.

They'd wound up with only a few scratches, and Felicity had cracked a joke about feeling more like James Bond every day, but Oliver couldn't shake the thought of what might have happened, if that bullet had been a few more inches to the left.

Once back in the foundry, he'd thrown himself into an intense workout, pouring all his fear and his conflicting emotions into a physical outlet. It hadn't helped as much as he'd wanted, but now, as he stood panting on the training mat, he suddenly found the clarity he'd been looking for.

Keeping his emotions stamped down wasn't keeping her any safer. As long as she was on the team, she was going to be in danger. And the thought of asking her to leave made him cringe mentally, as he pictured her response to something like that - she would be hurt, angry, and wouldn't leave anyway, so that wasn't really an option.

As he glanced over toward the computers, he watched her blonde ponytail flip back and forth as she scanned the monitors, reaching across to point out something to Digg, then laughing at his response. For an instant, Oliver imagined losing her, losing the light and hope and life that flowed from her to touch everyone around her, losing her without ever telling her how much she meant to him.

And if he kept his feelings buried, he'd lose her anyway, somewhere down the road, to someone else who would see what he saw in her. He had tried so hard to convince himself that he could be happy as long as she was happy and safe, but tonight, he realized the truth - he needed her in his life, as his friend, his partner, and as something more. The reasons he'd given himself for keeping his distance weren't enough anymore, and he'd be a fool if he spent one more minute pretending he wasn't completely in love with Felicity Smoak.

He felt a smile start to creep across his face at that thought - he was _in love_, completely and totally, and admitting it, even to himself, felt so right.

Now he just had to figure out if she felt the same way about him.

* * *

Felicity wasn't sure what was going on with Oliver lately. Ever since the night they'd broken into the mob boss's mansion, he'd been acting differently, and she couldn't figure out what to make of it.

First off, there was the inordinate amount of staring at her that he'd been doing. It seemed like every time she looked up, he was looking at her with an unreadable expression on his face.

The first time it had happened, she'd been having a bad hair day, and had assumed her ponytail was falling out again, or her hair was starting to frizz everywhere. She'd been a little annoyed, and had halfway snapped at him, "What are you staring at? I'm sure you had bad hair days on the island, not that I think you spent a lot of time looking in mirrors there, or ever, or even had time to think about that with the trying to stay alive..."

Taking a deep breath, she had reeled in her runaway tongue, and concluded more succinctly, "I'm sure you have better things to do than scrutinize my rebellious hair."

The amusement that crossed his face at her outburst was expected, but as he had turned away, she had caught a glimpse of something else in his gaze as well, something softer and more intimate.

That bit had to have been her imagination working overtime, though, or so she'd told herself. But as the days went by and the long lingering looks continued, she began to wonder if there really was something there...

And then something really weird happened - Oliver Queen started talking to her about things that weren't even remotely related to Queen Consolidated or Arrow business. It came out of the blue - they'd been working a late night in the foundry, and after he finished beating on the sparring dummy, he pulled a chair over near her, dropped into it, and started telling her about the first time he'd thrown a punch. It was a funny story, involving Tommy and a mud puddle, and Felicity had laughed heartily at the mental picture of five-year-old Oliver and Tommy sneaking back into the Queen mansion afterward, dripping mud everywhere, and walking straight into one of Moira's high-class luncheons.

It wasn't until later that Felicity realized that had been the first time Oliver had talked about Tommy in casual conversation since his death, and even though she'd seen a hint of sorrow flicker across Oliver's face at one point during his story, he'd seemed to want to share those memories with her. She felt honored, and more than a little confused - why her?

The piece of her imagination that thrilled at what she saw in Oliver's gaze some days had whispered that it was because she was special to him, that he wanted to share his life with her, but she tamped those thoughts firmly down. Her overactive romantic side had gotten her hurt before, and it had taken her a while to work past her crush on Oliver to the point where she was completely comfortable around him - she wasn't about to let a few little things change that.

Still, as he continued to open up to her about his past - his childhood, his frat boy escapades, even brief mentions of his time on the island - she found herself being drawn inescapably closer to him. His stories gave her a deeper understanding of what had shaped the man he'd become, and as their nightly chats continued, she started to share things with him as well - her love of random trivia, her unique experiences growing up in Vegas, and occasionally even tales of some of her most catastrophic dates-gone-wrong.

Those conversations quickly became the highlights of her days. It had been a long time since anyone had actually listened to her ramble on without getting impatient, but Oliver was different. She'd never had anyone who focused such rapt attention on her, and she could tell he was filing away every detail for future reference. And the unidentifiable something that Felicity saw in his eyes when she caught him staring was there even stronger as they talked.

Someday, Felicity knew, she was going to have to decide whether she was just seeing what she wanted to see. But for now, she was simply going to enjoy having a partner, a friend, and maybe the possibility of something more.

* * *

As Oliver's one and only little sister, Thea had appointed herself as unofficial matchmaker for her brother - it was, after all, a sister's duty. For years, she'd really thought Laurel was the one for him, but now it seemed pretty obvious that that wasn't the case.

So, in the spirit of sisterly love, she'd started to not-so-subtly attempt to set Oliver up on dates.

It hadn't gone as well as she had hoped - in fact, every suggestion had been met with a staggering amount of disinterest on Oliver's part. To be fair, they hadn't all been thought out that well. Her last attempt had actually brought a smile to Oliver's face, but not for the reasons Thea had hoped. It wasn't really her fault that she didn't know he'd dated or slept with all three of the girl's older sisters before the island...

Still, she couldn't quite figure out what was keeping him from dating again, until late one afternoon at Verdant when it all suddenly became extremely clear.

The main computer in the office had gone on the fritz yet again, and Roy had promised he could get it taken care of, for free: "I know a girl," then, as an addendum, "And it will be completely legal, I promise."

Thea had rolled her eyes, but later that afternoon she saw a vaguely familiar blonde heading up to the office - that IT girl from Queen Consolidated whose name Thea couldn't quite remember. Fiona? Or Felicia? No, Felicity - that was it.

A few minutes later, Roy swung by the bar where Thea was restocking. "Tech support has arrived."

"Yeah, I saw - she works at QC, right?" Thea threw a questioning glance in Roy's direction, one that said, _How do you know her?_

Leaning on his elbows on the bar, Roy nodded. "She used to be in IT, but she's actually your brother's executive assistant now. We bonded while I was waiting to talk to him one morning, back when I was still trying to convince him not to kill me for dating you."

"Wait, he's stopped giving you the death glare every time you're near me?"

Thea's mock surprise brought a grin to Roy's face. "Well, no, but at least I got a tech adviser out of it. She's good, too - says she should have the system up and running well before opening tonight."

A sigh of relief escaped Thea's lips. "Thank god. I wasn't looking forward to doing all the inventory by hand. Tell her she's a life-saver, would you?"

"Who's saving whose life now?" Oliver's voice chimed in from across the floor as he strode toward them.

Thea waved a hand toward the office window, where Felicity could be seen busily working away on the computer. "Your secretary is saving me an endless amount of hassle."

Oliver's lips twitched into a smile for an instant. "Better not let her hear you calling her a secretary, then - she prefers executive assistant."

With a chuckle, Thea turning back to organizing the liquor behind the bar. Behind her, she could hear Roy and Oliver having one of their typical stilted exchanges, with Roy trying very hard to sound mature, and Oliver's normal big-brother-protective-mode making him even more curt than usual. It was normal for them, and she was used to it by now, so she was surprised to hear Oliver's voice suddenly soften in the middle of a sentence, and threw a glance over her shoulder to see what had changed.

The topic of the conversation had shifted to the tech problems at Verdant, and Oliver's focus had moved from Roy to the office window. Felicity's profile was visible there, her face intent as she concentrated on her task, her blonde ponytail bobbing slightly as she leaned forward to peer at the screen.

And the look in Oliver's eyes as he gazed at Felicity took Thea completely by surprise - it was the adoring gaze of a man completely in love with the woman in front of him. Thea had always laughed at silly romantic cliches, but now, she knew at least one of them was not quite so silly, because she couldn't think of any other way to describe it - Oliver looked at Felicity like she hung the moon.

Suddenly, Oliver's disinterest in dating made so much more sense. Of course he didn't want to go out with any of the girls Thea had tried to set him up with, not when his heart was completely taken by someone else.

While Thea was having this revelation, Oliver and Roy's conversation turned away from the tech repair and moved on to the current state of things in the Glades, and Oliver dropped his gaze away from the office window. Thea had to quickly duck her head to hide her growing smile at finally figuring out who the right girl for Oliver was, but as she went back to shuffling their liquor inventory around, a plan started to take shape.

Knowing Oliver, Thea was pretty sure he hadn't made a move on Felicity yet - he'd always been quick to pick up girls for a fun time, but even as a little kid, Thea had noticed how long it took him to finally ask Laurel out. He might have been good with casual relationships, but the Oliver Thea remembered had always moved as slow as molasses when it came to anything real.

And when Felicity finished up with the computers a little while later, Thea had her suspicions confirmed. Sure, there was friendship there between them, and from the outside, Thea could see that Oliver stood just a little too close, and touched Felicity's elbow gently as they talked. However, it was obvious that Felicity didn't see what Thea did, didn't see the way Oliver's edges softened around her, the way Oliver's face lit up when he looked at her, the way his eyes shone with a happiness that was so rare for him.

Thea bit her tongue until Roy had headed off with Felicity to make sure she got home safely, but once she had Oliver to herself, she couldn't contain herself any longer. "So, when are you going to ask her out on a date?"

Her blunt question had exactly the effect she'd intended - Oliver looked completely flustered for a quick moment, then hastily donned his best attempt at a poker face. "She's my partner, Speedy, not my girlfriend."

Thea grinned. "Not for a lack of wishing on your part, though, right?" Oliver's mouth started to open to refute her statement, but she kept right on going, not letting him get a word in. "Don't try to deny it, mister - I saw the way you look at her when you think no one's watching."

That effectively silenced Oliver, who apparently was having trouble coming up with a good response. For a minute, he stared at the floor, motionless except for fidgeting fingers - a habit Thea had recognized early on as a sign of nerves. Finally, he looked up and met her gaze.

"You're not wrong." He sighed. "This is more complicated than you think, Thea..."

Resisting the urge to laugh long and hard at his lost-looking expression (because really, were all guys this clueless when it came to girls?), Thea let out a snort. "Have you tried this: 'Felicity, would you like to go out to dinner with me?' It's really not that hard, Ollie. And if dinner is too big and scary... well, you could always start with coffee..."

It was Oliver's turn to let out a chuckle then. "Coffee could be a dangerous subject - I think dinner might be safer." He paused for a second, taking a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. "You really think she'll say yes?"

Thea shrugged, "I can't see why not; aside from being an annoying big brother, you're quite the catch - rich, handsome, moody - isn't that exactly what all the girls want these days?" Judging from the look on his face, he had been looking for a less flippant answer, so she wiped the smile from her face, and continued more seriously. "You're a good guy, Ollie, and I think she sees that, so yes, I think she'll say yes."

That seemed to reassure him, as he nodded slightly, accepting her words.

Thea nodded toward the door then. "Well, what are you waiting for? Go ask her already."

* * *

As Oliver made his way out of Verdant's main entrance, Thea's words were stuck in his head. _What are you waiting for?_ And that was really the question, wasn't it? He'd already made up his mind that he didn't want to live without her, so what was holding him back?

Once out of the club, he headed down the alley towards the back entrance to the foundry. Roy had said he'd take Felicity home, but Oliver knew that they had both just walked out the front door and back in the back. It wasn't like they ever actually took an evening off.

As he strode down the alley, he continued to ponder what was keeping him from simply asking Felicity out. He'd been sure he'd already considered and accepted all the risks, so what was it? And then, just as he was about to punch in the code and enter the foundry, realization struck and he stopped in his tracks. Was it really that simple?

Yes; yes, it was - he was scared that Felicity might say no.

He almost laughed at how absurdly _normal_ the answer was. After all that had stood in the way of their relationship, the only thing keeping him from her now was something that pretty much every guy on the face of the planet could sympathize with. And once he'd identified his issue as nerves, and nothing more, he stepped into the foundry with a renewed determination to see this through. If he could face down hardened criminals, he could work up the courage to ask a girl out to dinner, or so he told himself.

As he trotted down the stairs, he could hear the sound of both grunts and laughter drifting up, and as the room came into view, he started to smile as well. Down at the far end, Diggle and Roy were... well, Oliver wanted to say sparring, but that would imply something a little more balanced than the total ass-kicking Digg was handing out. The kid was currently stuck in a headlock, and judging from Felicity's laughing commentary, it was the latest in a series of ignominious defeats.

Oliver paused for a second to simply enjoy the sound of Felicity's merriment ringing throughout the foundry. When he'd first converted the old factory to his base of operations, he could never have imagined it echoing with laughter, but that was just it - Felicity had taken him by surprise, and now he couldn't imagine this place, or any other part of his life, without her.

That thought spurred him forward again, and as Diggle and Roy reset for another round, Oliver dropped his hand gently onto Felicity's shoulder. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

Spinning in her chair, she looked up at him. "Sure, but are you sure you don't want to watch this? Digg promised to go easy on him this time, which means it might actually last more than a minute..."

For a second, Oliver almost backed out, but then he caught himself. This conversation needed to happen, and if he put it off now, there was no telling when he'd work up the nerve again. So, setting his shoulders, he shook his head. "I'd really actually like to talk with you for a moment. Now, if that's okay."

She looked a bit puzzled, but focused on him rather than on the sparring bout behind them. "Sure."

Now that he had her attention, there was no going back, so he just spit it out. "Felicity... would you like to get some dinner?" There was a loud thud from behind them as Diggle pinned Roy to the mat yet again, but Oliver's eyes never wavered from Felicity's face. He actually found himself holding his breath as he waited for her answer, and praying fervently that she wouldn't say no.

"Dinner sounds great - where were you thinking?"

At her words, he started to breathe again, although a little piece of his brain noted that she sounded almost too nonchalant in accepting his offer of a date. He ignored that, though, and focused instead on the fact that she hadn't said no. "How does the Chinese place on Oakmont sound?"

"It sounds delicious, is how it sounds." She spun in her chair and called out to Digg and Roy, "Hey guys, want some Chinese? Oliver's paying."

Oliver's eyes slammed shut as he realized his mistake. Of course she hadn't said no - she'd said once she would never turn down free food, and apparently he hadn't been clear enough this was supposed to be a date. And now he could hear Roy getting excited at the thought of wontons, and his plan was totally tanking.

When he opened his eyes again, he found Diggle staring at him with an odd expression.

A moment later, Digg interrupted Roy's ode to wonders of Chinese food. "Actually, Roy and I have some stuff we need to take care of around here tonight."

"What? No, we don't..." Roy's protestation was cut short as Digg clamped his hand down on the kid's shoulder and squeezed.

"Yeah, we do. There's some new exploding arrowheads that need to be double-checked for reliability, and we're gonna get them all done tonight." Roy's muttering seemed to indicate he could see no reason why that couldn't wait until after Chinese, but Diggle paid him no heed.

And when Digg gave him a surreptitious wink a second later, Oliver realized that Digg had figured out what Oliver had been trying to do, and had given him a chance to salvage the evening. He was going to owe Digg for this, big time.

With a nod, Oliver thanked his friend for saving him, and then turned to help Felicity into her coat.

The restaurant was only a few blocks away, and the crisp autumn air was the perfect temperature for a stroll, or at least, so Felicity claimed. Personally, Oliver thought it was a bit cold - blame it on five years spent in the tropics - but he was too busy trying to figure out his next move to argue.

Felicity spent most of the walk over describing in great detail the more humorous parts of Digg and Roy's sparring bout, complete with lots of energetic hand waving and demonstration. Usually, Oliver would have been completely caught up in her stories, drawn in by the irresistibility of her enthusiasm and her smile, but tonight, he only caught bits and pieces of what she was saying.

By the time they sat down and placed their orders, he'd worked out a tentative plan of action. It was very simple, but he figured that, after the miscommunication earlier, straightforward was probably good.

As the waiter left after delivering the drinks, Oliver plunged into his quickly rehearsed speech. "Felicity, when I asked you earlier if you wanted dinner... that was supposed to be me asking you on a date."

Her breath caught at his statement, but he didn't give her a chance to speak, not yet - he wanted to get everything out first. "So, since I didn't do such a good job of it earlier, I'd like to ask again." He took a deep breath. "Felicity, would you like to have dinner with me, as a date?"

For a long moment, she said nothing, and Oliver felt a sudden desire to fill the silence, to say something more, something that would convince her to say yes. But he knew that it was out of his hands now, so he bit his tongue and waited. It was probably the longest ten seconds of his life.

And then, finally, her slightly stunned expression turned into a giant smile. "Yes, yes, oh yes!"

Oliver let out a breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding, and he could feel a matching grin spread across his own face, as his nerves vanished, replaced by an overwhelming wash of joy. His relief was short-lived, however, as Felicity jumped from her seat a second later.

"Just... hang on a minute, would you? I'll be right back."

And then she was turning and heading for the door, leaving a very puzzled Oliver behind.

He stared at her retreating back in confusion, trying to figure out what had just happened. She had said yes, right? He hadn't just imagined that?

Bracing his hands on the table, he took several steadying breaths and evaluated the situation. She'd left both her purse and her coat behind, and he could see now that she hadn't gone any farther than the sidewalk just outside. The sight of her pacing back and forth and apparently having an animated conversation with herself didn't really do much to reassure him, but at least she didn't seem to be leaving.

Still, this was not exactly how he'd pictured this evening going.

* * *

Felicity's brain was whirling as she paced the sidewalk in front of the restaurant. She still couldn't quite wrap her head around the reality of what had just happened.

Oliver Queen had asked her on a date! A real date! Her! With Oliver!

It was a scenario that had played out frequently in her daydreams for a while after they'd first started working together, but she'd never once believed it would actually happen - that Oliver would actually like her. Like, _like_ like her!

Several involuntary squeaks of delight escaped her at the thought, and she wanted to raise her fists and shout to the whole world that Oliver Queen had asked her on a date!

And the street was practically empty, so she did just that.

As she dropped her hands, she realized that several of the restaurant patrons were staring at her through the plate glass window, and she started giggling at the thought of the sight she must make. Suddenly, though, she realized that she had totally just walked out on the man who had just asked her dinner. Yup, she was spectacularly terrible at this whole dating thing already.

Pacing back and forth a few more times, she tried to get her emotions under control.

Nineteen steps to the end of the sidewalk, pivot... Pull yourself together, Felicity Smoak... Just because he likes you is no reason to turn into a teenage girl... Nineteen steps back, and turn... Breathe, relax, and get back in there; he's waiting. Oh god, he's waiting! He probably thinks I'm insane by now... Nineteen and swivel... You've got this; you are strong and confident; now get in there!

Stopping in front of the door, she composed herself, grabbed the handle, and went in.

As she reseated herself at their table, she could tell her abrupt exit had caused Oliver no little consternation, but he didn't say anything, only raised a questioning eyebrow in her direction. She ducked her head, a little embarrassed. "Sorry about that minor freak-out - I just got a little overexcited..."

He shook his head immediately. "It's fine, really. Just... you're still okay with this, right?"

"Trust me, I am more than okay with this." Her lips twitched upward at the thought of exactly how much more than okay she was. "In fact, incoherent with happiness seemed like a pretty good description right now."

A slow smile crept across his face at that, until it pretty much stretched from ear to ear. "Good."

For a long minute, they simply gazed at each other, both grinning like idiots.

Sitting there, Felicity realized something - she'd never seen Oliver this happy before, ever. It was a good look on him, and it dawned on her that she was the reason for his huge smile and the happiness that shone in his eyes. And that thought filled her own heart with even more delight, until she thought she might explode with joy.

Of course, their waiter came along just then, and interrupted the moment, but the elation didn't fade. As the evening went on, Felicity found herself frequently getting distracted by little things, like Oliver's smile. Being that they both laughed and smiled most of the evening, she was distracted a lot.

But as they finished up their dessert, a heavier question suddenly slipped out, unbidden. "Why me, Oliver? You could have your pick of any girl in this city - why me? Not that I'm complaining, because I'm not, I'm pretty much ecstatic right now, but..." Her voice trailed off, and she inwardly cursed her own insecurity.

Oliver didn't seem to mind her question, though. Reaching out, he clasped her hand in his, and a little piece of her mind noted that their hands fit together perfectly. His long fingers enveloped her hand completely, and she could feel the strength in them, even though his touch was gentle.

"Because you are beautiful, and an incredible person. Because you have saved me from myself, more times than you know. You hope and love and trust and believe with an abandon that is so refreshingly bright in the middle of a dark world. You've never given up on me, and for the first time in a very long time, I find myself wanting to be more, working to be the man you see."

He paused for a second to take a slightly shaky breath, and Felicity found herself overwhelmed as well, at the depth of the emotion he was expressing. And then he breathed out one last sentence, so softly that she almost didn't catch it. "And because for months now, I've been falling in love with you, and I don't want to be without you anymore."

As she met his gaze, his eyes contained a depth of desire and tenderness that took her breath away. It was the same emotions she'd caught glimpses of for the past few weeks, only to a degree and intensity that she never could have imagined, and she knew that this was a man who had just put his heart into her hands.

The enormity of that responsibility would have been overwhelming, if she hadn't already entrusted her heart to him as well.

For Oliver, it had been a slow process, building and building until his heart was hers completely, but Felicity had always given her heart away all at once, fully, and without any hesitation. She couldn't pinpoint the exact moment this evening that it had happened, but the fact remained: she was as fully committed now as he was.

All these thoughts swirled through her head in a few seconds, while she stared into Oliver's deep blue eyes. Squeezing his hand, she tried to encapsulate all that in just a few words. "I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere. There's nowhere else I want to be."

And as a smile spread across his face once again, she knew right then that that was a promise she would keep, no matter what came their way.

* * *

By the time Felicity and Oliver made it back to the foundry that night, Diggle was the only one around. Roy had headed out a little while earlier, grumbling about vigilantes who went to dinner and vanished for three hours without telling their sidekicks that chasing bad guys had apparently been called off for the evening. He hadn't said where he was going, but Digg was pretty sure Roy had just gone upstairs to spend time with Thea.

And Digg had to admit Roy was right about one thing - it didn't look like the Arrow was going to be intimidating any criminals tonight. With the foundry empty, Digg contemplated heading out for the night as well, but decided to stick around.

He justified it by putting in a good hard round of training, but he knew it was mostly because he really wanted to see if their date had worked out. After all, he'd been rooting for them for a very long time.

When they finally made it back, he could tell from the moment the door unlocked that things had gone well. As their footsteps sounded on the stairs, Diggle could hear Oliver chuckling at something Felicity had said, and he could hear a difference instantly - Oliver sounded lighter and more carefree than ever before. Digg had to admit, he'd never thought those words could be used to describe Oliver Queen, but Felicity had always brought out a different side of Oliver, and now more than ever, it seemed.

Turning to glance toward the stairs, Diggle smiled to see Oliver holding Felicity's hand and grinning at her like a fool. And as they reached the bottom of the stairs, Felicity flung herself off the last step and into Oliver's arms, with a quick, "Catch me!" Oliver spun her in a circle, both of them laughing, and it warmed Diggle's heart to see his friends so happy.

Neither of them seemed to have realized Digg was still around, they were so absorbed in their own private world. Chuckling a little to himself, Diggle recalled his own experiences with the ecstasies of new love, and he had to admit, he didn't really want to burst their little bubble.

As Oliver set Felicity down, though, he caught a glimpse of Digg out of the corner of his eye, and suddenly sobered up, dropping Felicity's hand guiltily. Digg couldn't help but smile again at the fact that the mighty Arrow currently looked like he'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

Felicity immediately clued in to the change in Oliver's demeanor, and her head whipped around to find the source. When her eyes lighted on Digg, her face lit up even more, and she grabbed Oliver's hand and pulled him over, proudly declaring their new relationship. "John, may I introduce you to my new boyfriend... ooh, boyfriend, that still sounds weird... but I like it!" Here, she paused to grin broadly up at Oliver, who looked down at her with such happiness that Diggle was pretty sure the other man was about to burst with joy.

"Anyway, we had a date - a real date! With dinner and holding hands and everything!"

Diggle couldn't contain the chuckle that rose up - Felicity's excitement was always contagious, and tonight he could see written all over her face how deeply she had fallen for the man standing next to her.

Pushing himself up from the table he'd been leaning against, Digg strode towards them. "Congratulations; that's awesome, guys. And it's about time, too - the longing glances were getting a little much." His grin was directed at Oliver in particular, and Oliver just shook his head a little, chuckling.

As Digg got close, Felicity let go of Oliver's hand and, rising onto her tiptoes, flung her arms around Digg's neck. He could feel her practically vibrating with elation, and another chuckle escaped him when she held on long enough to whisper in his ear. "He likes me, John - really, really likes _me_! I mean, I know you said it was possible, but I never thought..."

Laughing, Diggle set her back down. "Told you."

Oliver reached out to shake his hand then, mouthing a _Thank you_. Digg's lips twitched upward. "Hey, man, I've always got your back."

Felicity's gaze darted between them, realizing that there was something she was missing there, but Digg headed her off before she could start asking questions. "You two go on and get out of here now - saving the city can wait 'til tomorrow."

For a moment, Felicity looked like she was about to protest, but then Oliver slid his hand across the small of her back, and Diggle could see her arguments disappear. "Okay, but I've gotta go put my computers to bed for the evening first. It'll just take a minute."

As she headed across the foundry floor, Oliver made to follow her, but Diggle got in his way.

"Hold up, man - I've got something I wanna say to you."

Oliver looked a bit puzzled, but nodded to indicate he was listening.

Folding his arms across his chest, Diggle drew himself up to his full height. Looking intimidating was a useful skill of his. "You'd better be sure about this, Oliver. She's not like all the other girls you've dated and dumped - she's a lady, and you'd better treat her as such."

"I know that, Digg, and she is different - you don't have to worry."

Digg nodded. "Just be careful, Oliver, because this isn't going to be a relationship you back out of. Her heart is already involved, so you'd better be serious." Pausing for a moment, he let the weight of his words sink in for the other man, and then went on. "And if you hurt her, ever, you'll have me to deal with."

Having said his piece, Digg stepped aside, but Oliver didn't move immediately. Instead, he looked Digg straight in the eye. "I'm more sure about this than I ever have been about anything. I might not always do things right, but I love her, and that is never going to change." Exhaling sharply, as if surprised by the intensity of his emotions, Oliver strode briskly past Diggle, ending the conversation.

For a moment, Diggle stood there, surprised as well by how forthright Oliver had been about his feelings. Digg had never known Oliver to be open about... well, anything, so it was an interesting development. And Diggle could tell that Oliver had meant every word, that as much as Felicity's heart belonged to Oliver, Oliver's heart also belonged to her.

And as Diggle turned and watched them, saw how Oliver's hand rested gently on Felicity's shoulder, how he looked at her with both admiration and love shining in his eyes, and how Felicity relaxed in Oliver's presence, Digg thought to himself that if any two people had a chance at a good life together, it was them.

He was just glad they'd both finally realized it too.


End file.
